


Whispers in the Dark

by jillyfae



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Epistolary, F/M, Family, Not actually Sara Ryder but that's how the tag is set up now?, Polyamory, Romance, but I did want to emphasize, sibling is not male nor Scott either, that this story is about both of them, there is no love triangle here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-12
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-10-18 04:01:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10608864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jillyfae/pseuds/jillyfae
Summary: Just because your sibling's in a coma, doesn't mean you should give up on them; a collection of logs, letters, and personal notes to and from (or perhaps just about) Pathfinder Maia Ryder.





	1. honestly

> _[audio log_   
>  _sent from: Ryder, Maia_   
>  _to: Ryder, Morgan_   
>  _private archive: SAM]_

*sound of rustling, shifting*

Morgan -

I have never lied to you.

I still haven't.

But.

*long pause*

Ack, I don't know what to say, I don't - maybe I'll write something next time and have SAM read it to you? That might be less weird.

No it won't. Different weird?

Might be good enough, different.

I mean.

*sound of fingers tapping against a hard surface*

There's all sorts of research that says people in comas _hear_  what's going on around them on some level, old and storied and recent, anecdotal and scientific, and SAM can play this for you so no one else can hear it, even if he doesn't want to risk trying to talk to you again like we did via the implants.

But SAM asked me why I lied to you. He knows I don't lie to people very often, and never to you. And I didn't!

I don't think.

Maybe you'll think, when you wake up? I mean yeah, I didn't tell you about the Scourge and our garden worlds are trying to kill us and aliens are trying to kill us and something created a giant evil space cloud that's poisoning everything but does that matter?

Shut up, I can hear you sighing, you know. I didn’t want to make it too complicated, you are in a coma. This is home now, whether Habitat 7 was ready and waiting for us or not.

Golden really isn't the point though, sib. You just gotta wake up and see it. Andromeda is more amazing, more incredible than we ever imagined. You never needed safe, not like Dad kept trying to find for us. You wanted adventure even more than I did. That's why we came, isn't it, even more than for him?

And you'll get it, whenever you wake up. There's more than I need, I'll share. I promise.

It's so beautiful. Everything here is so amazing. Terrifying, and brutal, and we're all pretty much half a step away from dying most of the time, but it doesn’t matter! I know, you’re laughing again, that hopeless helpless sad shaking one you do when I’m being ridiculous, of course it matters, everyone deserves a safe place to call home and somehow I’m responsible for making that happen?

Everything is impossible.

But I wouldn't go back, even if I could.

Well. Maybe I'd try and wake up a year early? Get you and Dad here with me, awake and aware and everyone together.

That would be perfect.

~~Hell if we're going for perfect, why don't I go back six hundred years and put Mom in stasis before she dies and tell SAM to figure out how to fix her on the trip and then we'd all be here together?~~

Delete that last sentence SAM, send the rest.

_[/end recording, transmitting]_


	2. naming the dead

> _[text file_    
>  _created by: Ryder, Maia]_

I'm writing this one for you, Morgan.

Just for you.

My voice echoes, a little, in my bunk. It's too large, too open. Too empty.

Dad made me Pathfinder, made me responsible for finding a home, finding a safe place, finding all the pieces we're going to need to put together to build something.

But my first job wasn't new, wasn't _finding_.

No one trusted me to do something new, so instead I got to clean up after something old.

Not even clean up, just.

Make sure they didn't forget?

_Theo, Gordanus, Thysa, Porter, Tegan, Amira, Darin ..._

I never even met them, gave their names back to the Nexus as if I could just pass them along, as if ... 

As if they weren't mine now. I have to carry them, stand under their weight until I find a place to put them down, until they have a  _home._

I've never led more than a  _squad_ , Morgan, how am I supposed to carry 40,000 people?

Hells.

_Tempest_ herself is almost too much, and she's just the tip of the iceberg, the first line of the story, the ...

The tip of the spear.

I can't look back or I won't be able to do this.

I don't know that I will be able to do this, but I can't stop, I have to ~~... find a p~~

I just can't stop, right?

I miss you.

> _[save file_   
>  _send: Ryder, Morgan_   
>  _private archive (copy): SAM]_


End file.
